What do blind people dream of? (2024)

Do blind people have visual dreams?

The visual aspect of a blind person's dreams varies considerably depending on when in his or her development he or she became blind. Some blind people have dreams that are similar in visual content and sensory experiences to those of sighted people, while other blind people have dreams that are very different.

The congenitally blind

Researchers often disagree when it comes to the dreams of the congenitally blind or those born blind. Some experts claim that people who are born blind see no visual content in their dreams, just as they see nothing visual when they are awake. However, others believe that this is not the case.

People with congenital blindness experience this less eye movements Reliable source National Library of Medicine, Biotech InformationThe National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information.See sourceduring the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep phase than their sighted counterparts. Because most complex dreams happen during REM-phase Reliable source National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)NINDS aims to acquire fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological diseases.See sourceand eye movements are believed to correlate with visual dream content, this may indicate that people with congenital blindness do not experience visual content while dreaming.

But people who have become blind later in life also experience fewer eye movements during the REM sleep phase. These sleepers experience visual dream content, suggesting that the hypothesis that a lack of eye movements during REM indicates a lack of visual dream content is likely incorrect. Eye movements made during REM may correlate with visual dreams in sighted people, but in blind people this does not seem to be the case, regardless of when they became blind.

Other experts have noted that people born blind report experiences visual dreams Reliable source National Library of Medicine, Biotech InformationThe National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information.See source. Like sighted sleepers, blind sleepers can extract some of the visual content of their dreams after waking. Furthermore, their EEG activity during dreams that they report as visual resembles the EEG patterns of sighted people during visual dreams.

Although blind sleepers can experience visual dream content, they probably experience a lot less than sighted sleepers. Their minds seem to compensate for the lack of visual content by growing larger other sensory experiences Reliable source National Library of Medicine, Biotech InformationThe National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information.See source. For example, congenitally blind individuals experience more elements of sound, touch, taste and smell in their dreams than sighted individuals.

People who went blind before they were five to seven years old

People who were not born blind but became blind in early childhood are likely to experience more visual dream content than those who were born blind, but less than those who became blind later in life. Researchers hypothesize that the later a person becomes blind, the more visual content they experience in their dreams.

Research studies categorize blind participants into different age groups. People who become blind after five to seven years usually have completely visual dreams. People who were not born blind but became blind before the age of five to seven could experience varying degrees of visual elements in their dreams, depending on how far along they were in their development when they became blind.

People who became blind after five to seven years

People who become blind after five to seven years tend to have visual dreams. That said, they may not experience as much visual dream content as fully sighted individuals. Like people who became blind at a younger age, those who became blind later often have other sensory elements that become more prominent in dreams to compensate for the reduced visual content. For example, they tend to experience more tactile or physical sensations while dreaming than sighted people.

The visual dream experiences that blind people have do not only involve people and places they have seen before you go blind. As they dream, they see things that have come into their lives since they became blind. This suggests that while we dream, our minds construct a world rather than replicating one we know, because a person with complete vision loss doesn't really know what something they've never seen looks like visually.

What are dreams like for blind people?

What happens during sleepis the same for both blind and sighted people, although many blind people experience fewer visual images while dreaming. Both groups experience dreams with lifelike stories in which they are actors, have sensory experiences and interact with others.

Although their visual dream content is reduced, other senses are enhanced in the dreams of blind people. A dreaming blind person experiences more sensations of sound, touch, taste and smell than sighted people. Blind people are also more likely to have certain types of dreams than sighted people. For example, blind people seem to experience more dreams movement or travel Reliable source American Psychological Association (APA)APA is the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States, with more than 121,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, counselors and students as members.See sourceand more nightmares.

Do blind people have nightmares?

Just like sighted people, blind people experienceNightmares. Research has shown that blind people are more likely to dream about trips involving unfortunate circ*mstances. Some of these dreams could possibly be considered nightmares. One hypothesis is that the content of nightmares may reflect the difficulties blind people face in navigating their waking lives.

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